Lauryn Hill is no longer an inmate. The popular songstress was officially released from a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut this morning, and while she hasn’t spoken on the record, no doubt her freedom feels pretty great.
Last summer, the federal government accused Hill of not paying taxes between the years of 2005 and 2007. She admitted as much almost immediately and released a long essay letting her fans know she paid all of her taxes for years but stopped doing so when she took a few steps back to raise her kids. Later, she worked out a deal with prosecutors and pled guilty in exchange for a three month sentence, which, according to TMZ ended today.
It’s extremely important for citizens to pay their taxes. Not only is that money needed to maintain roads and fund schools and build bridges, when a whole lot of people don’t pay, it eventually pushes everyone else’s tax rates higher. That being said, we’re all better off when the government puts people on payment plans as opposed to punishes them too severely. After all, no one can work off a debt while they’re sitting behind bars.
Now that Hill has been released from prison, there’s great hope among fans that she will engineer a full-blown comeback. To celebrate her release, she just dropped a track called “Consumerism” that she worked on before her incarceration, and ideally, even more new music will follow after that.
For a reminder of just how crazy talented Hill is, you can check out “Doo-Wop (That Thing” below…
